


i went to sleep a poet (and woke up a fraud)

by meltedpuddles



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: AU, Beagle Line - Freeform, Betting, Café, Closeted, Cute Kyungsoo, Homophobia, M/M, Popular Chanyeol, cy is a bully :(, highschool, shy minseok, slow build up, soo and dae are bffs, stalker au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2018-08-20 08:15:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8242550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meltedpuddles/pseuds/meltedpuddles
Summary: obsessionəbˈsɛʃ(ə)n/ nounan idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind.orchanyeol stalks kyungsoo for extra pocket money and somehow everything becomes a little bit too real for the both of them





	1. prolouge

"Truth or Dare?" Baekhyun asked him, his faded pink fringe falling in front of his face. Chanyeol narrowed his eyes, his mouth moving by itself.

"Dare"

Baekhyun smirked, the entire circle clapped or whooped, emitting some form of excitement.

“I dare you,” the room fell quiet, “to stalk Do Kyungsoo.”

Chanyeol lifted an eyebrow in confusion, “That’s illegal, buddy.”

“No! Yes! No!” Baekhyun stumbled, “Just do it! C’mon it’ll be funny, he’s really smart so he’ll realize. Make it obvious.”

“Who is he, though?” Chanyeol inquired, starting to ponder on the idea more and more.

“Senior, at Baekseok High,” Minseok added.

Chanyeol’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open.

“Senior?! You expect me to stalk a senior and make him think I’m in love with him or something?!” He exclaimed, sitting up from his previous comfortable position. Baekhyun let out a cackle, doubling over onto the floor.  

“This is ridiculous! You can’t make me actually do it!” Chanyeol cried again, his arms now in the air. Baekhyun got back up from his position on the floor and looked Chanyeol long and hard in the eye.

“I’ll give you $200 if you can make him fall in love with you by the end of the summer,” Baekhyun says, his eyes boring into Chanyeol’s very soul. He gulped.

“What? Make him fall in love with me by stalking him?” Chanyeol scoffed, not believing what the latter was offering.

“Exactly.”

Silence.

Chanyeol sighed, “Deal.”


	2. Chapter 2

Kyungsoo knew. Well, he knew to an extent.

He knew of the boy who’d gaze over at his corner of the library every day until it was time to leave and he certainly was aware of the faint footsteps behind him when he walked home at night. The stalking never bothered him even though he knew it should. It almost felt like the eyes boring into the back of his head during the evenings acted as a safety blanket.

Kyungsoo watched him carefully when the tall boy turned his back, cautious. Even though Kyungsoo was fine with the tall boy’s actions, he needed to keep his guard up. For all he knew, he could have sinister plans and Kyungsoo wanted to avoid death whenever possible.

It was about 2 weeks after the whole stalking incident had started that Kyungsoo decided to take action. What type of action he was going to take, he wasn’t sure. Maybe he’d turn around suddenly and approach the tall boy, or he could give him a taste of being a victim by following him instead.

“Hey, Sehun?” Kyungsoo called. A silver head popped out from behind a bookshelf, a questioning look on his face, “Yeah?”

Kyungsoo walked up to the younger, tugging at Sehuns sleeve. He nodded his head towards the direction of his “secret admirer”. Sehun quirked an eyebrow.

“Do you know who he is?” He questioned, tightening his grip on the boy’s sleeve. Sehun hummed for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah, he comes by every day. Never takes any books out though, it’s a shame, we could use more members,” he mutters.

“What’s his name?” Sehun looked at Kyungsoo again, but this time in the eye..

“Why are you so interested in him? Huh?” He teased with wiggling eyebrows. Kyungsoo scoffed.

“I just want to know who he is, tell me.”

Sehun laughed, “Chanyeol, his name is Chanyeol. He goes to my school, quite popular actually.”

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows, “Oh, really?” Sehun hummed in agreement.

“He’s always got girls fawning over him, got no idea why he’s spending all his time in the library lately though, he seems like the type to party.”

A small silence fell between the two, Kyungsoo’s mind trying to figure out why a boy like Chanyeol would have such a creepy infatuation with a boy like him. It didn’t add up, but he decided he didn’t have enough to work with to even try to piece the puzzle together.

That night as he walked home, he looked over his shoulder to see the tall boy a fair distance away from himself. He supposed that it would have been quite obvious what Chanyeol was doing if he was any closer. Kyungsoo didn’t look for too long.

~

Kyungsoo’s usual walk home is long and tiring, but he always takes the longest route for exercising purposes. Today though, he was excited. The feeling had been bubbling in his chest ever since he heard that his brother was coming back from military service. Today. He was coming home _today._

He couldn’t be more excited, his feet racing him down the fast route home, but eventually slowly down as he got onto more public streets, preferring to not be seen running like a maniac on a Monday morning. Kyungsoo hadn’t realized it, but he ended up walking towards Sehun’s school. The same exact school that Park Chanyeol also went to. What Sehun had said about Chanyeol’s popularity didn’t bother him too much, but as he stopped in front of the school, a sudden haunting feeling came over him. It didn’t cross his mind that a lot of the time popular people were assholes, and Chanyeol just happened to be a popular person and, apparently, an asshole.

Against the parking lot wall, was a small boy curled up, arms covering his face and his knees up against himself as tight as possible. Standing above him was none other than Park Chanyeol with bright red hair and an angry expression.

“C’mon, you fucking fag! Get up!” Chanyeol yelled, kicking the kid’s legs which withdrew a small cry.

Kyungsoo wasn’t sure what to do. The Chanyeol he had come to know seemed harmless and quiet,  but then he also trailed Kyungsoo on the way home every day. He knew, in the back of his mind, that going up to Chanyeol and his victim would be a really bad idea and that he should avoid confrontation as much as possible, but some part of his mind thought it was okay.

He jumped over the small gate and onto the asphalt of the car park, which lacked any cars. Chanyeol hadn’t noticed him yet.

“Hey!” Kyungsoo yelled, slowing approaching the duo. Chanyeol’s head whipped around to look at him, his face painted with dread. Kyungsoo put on his best angry face, “What are you doing?”

Chanyeol didn’t respond, still stiff with shock.

“I said,” Kyungsoo whispered, “What the hell are you doing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is horrifyingly short, i'm sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

 

The almost silence of the parking lot was terrifying, the boy’s whimpers sounding deafening to Kyungsoo’s ears. Chanyeol stuttered, his breath caught in his throat and not allowing him to reply. He gulped.

Kyungsoo sighed, talking a step closer, “What’d he ever do to you?”

The boy on the ground suddenly stumbled onto his feet, catching the attention of both of the boys. He wiped the small trickle of blood falling down his chin onto his shirt sleeve, looking up and staring Kyungsoo in the eye.

The boy stood there, small patches of blood soaked through his now ruined uniform. He let out a small breath, closing his eyes for several seconds that felt too long in the silence.

“Thanks, but you didn’t need to,” he whispered, bowing his head the tiniest bit, breaking eye contact with Kyungsoo immediately as he limped out of the parking lot. Kyungsoo stared after him, watching his wounded figure retreat. Kyungsoo’s gaze was focused on the asphalt ground after that, refusing to look at the red haired boy.

“This isn’t any of your business,” Chanyeol scoffed, glaring at Kyungsoo’s turned head in annoyance before quickly speed walking out of the school grounds. Kyungsoo clenched his fist, closing his eyes as tight as he could.  

As he continued to walk back to his house, he couldn’t shake the weird feeling he got from seeing Chanyeol beating that boy till he bled. It felt like the image was ingrained into his mind and it ruined his happy go lucky mood he had going on. His own footsteps sounded way too loud in his ears as his family’s house slowly came into view, an inch of excitement crawling back up his spine. He shivered.

“I’m home!” he yelled into the house, he recognized the small footsteps of an even smaller dog resounding throughout the room. The dog waddled over and Kyungsoo crouched down to stroke it’s almost grey fur.

“Kyungsoo!” a familiar voice yelled out. His face stretched into a smile of pure excitement when he saw his older brother peep out from behind the wall. His feet broke into a short jog, reminding himself to be cautious of the porcelain décor in the hallway. The embrace his brother pulled him into was powerful, squeezing the younger boy as tight as he possibly could. Bad idea.

“H-hyung,” Kyungsoo groaned while frantically hitting his brother’s arm in alarm. Seungsoo pulled back, a sheepish smile painting his face.

“Sorry buddy, I underestimate my own strength sometimes,” Seungsoo laughed. Kyungsoo grinned, standing in silence to just take in his brother’s appearance. He had gained a few more scars over the 2 years he was gone and Kyungsoo could see a few fine lines around his eyes, but he still looked relatively the same. He felt a wave of relief crash over him, knowing that his brother was home.

“So how have you been?” Seungsoo asked, looking down at the younger boy.

“Good, I guess. School,” He replied, “But not much else, what ‘bout you?”

Kyungsoo scratched his nose, sniffling slightly. Seungsoo raised his eyebrows.

“What, no girlfriend?” He teased, poking his younger brother in the side. Kyungsoo retracted, reaching out to hit his brother on the head. Seungsoo didn’t answer his question.

“No, no girlfriend,” He glared up at Seungsoo. The older pouted slightly, whining and rubbing his head where Kyungsoo hit.

“You can’t hit me, Kyung! I just got back from _war,_ ” Seungsoo complained, a joking undertone in his voice. Kyungsoo frowned.

“Boys! Come get dinner!” Their mother’s loud voice yelled out causing both boys to perk up in interest. They both wandered into the dining room, having been too caught up in their conversation to smell the hefty dinner that had been laid out on the table. They stared at the many side dishes in awe. Kyungsoo felt uneasy all of a sudden.

“Ah, it’s so nice to see both you boys here,” their mother sighed, a calming smile on her face, “It’s been so long. Too long.”

Seungsoo grinned, seating himself down in front of the lavish layout. The feeling from earlier began to creep back up Kyungsoo’s spine, his shoulders pushing back in an attempt to get rid of it.  Kyungsoo sat, listening to his older brother and mother talk about anything and everything. He could see the happiness in his mother eyes and the calm look Seungsoo sported. Kyungsoo didn’t say much. Kyungsoo began to pay attention to the words piling out of his family’s mouth when the conversation directed to him.

“So has Kyungsoo been doing any good in school?” Seungsoo asked while moving his food around the plate with his chopsticks. It reminded Kyungsoo of a few years ago, when Seungsoo was in high school himself with test upon test.

“Yes, Kyungsoo has gotten excellent grades recently,” Their mother smiled, “I’m proud.”

Seungsoo smiled, “That’s good,” He turned around to face Kyungsoo and pointed his chopsticks in the younger boys face, “Don’t drop out.”

“I’m not going to drop out, I’m not you,” He scoffed in reply, swatting away the chopsticks.

“Hey! I didn’t drop out because I wanted to!” Seungsoo whined, “The old man needed help with work and I’m _loyal_.”

Kyungsoo just shook his head. The table resumed its previous silence, the lack of sound it held when Seungsoo was gone. The only sounds that Kyungsoo processed was the slow chewing of his mother and the sudden burp his brother let out. He grimaced.

“Ahh, I’m so full,” Seungsoo groaned while sliding down in his chair. The older rubbed small circles on his stomach.  Kyungsoo hummed, putting his chopsticks down before sitting up out of his chair. He wiped his hands on his jeans.

“You’re going to bed?” His mother asked. Kyungsoo nodded. He side glanced at Seungsoo, who was giving him an odd look. The expression on his face was dull but his eyes bored into the side of Kyungsoo’s head. Seungsoo always knew how to do that, how to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible just so he could lure information out of him. Seungsoo knew something was off, and that made him nervous.

Kyungsoo avoided his gaze and walked the stairs up to his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS KYUNGSOO'S BIRTHDAY!!! so in celebration i wrote yall a chappie. enjoy.


	4. Chapter 4

Kyungsoo slid down the back on his bedroom door, sitting down on the carpeted floor. He held his face in his hands and sighed. He should be out there right now, catching up with his older brother who he hadn’t seen in two goddamned years, but instead he was in his room thinking about his own personal stalker. His own personal stalker with what seemed to be a two faced personality.

“Not that I even know anything about his personality in the first place,” he mumbled under his breath, letting his hands fall from his face to stare at the wall opposite him, counting the small black dots littering it from god knows what. A knock on his door shocked him out of his momentary trance.

“Kyung?” Seungsoo said from the other side of the wall, knocking again when his younger brother didn’t answer. Kyungsoo swung the door open, trying to look as poker faced as possible while still looking his older brother in the eye.

“What is it?” He asked, leaning against the door to keep it only about a ruler’s length open. Seungsoo tilted his head to the side.

“You didn’t finish your dinner,” He began, pushing his short fringe out of his face to look at his brother better, “Mum left leftovers in the fridge.”

Kyungsoo nodded, “Is that all you wanted to bother me about?”

“Oh my, so cold,” Seungsoo gasp dramatically, “I’ve been gone for so long and you don’t even want to sit down with your brother you missed oh so dearly and _talk_ to him.”

Kyungsoo studied the situation for a couple seconds, deciding what reply would make his brother leave him alone the quickest so he could go back to just _thinking_.

“I’m just tired right now,” He decides on, “Schools been taking a toll on me so I thought I’d go to bed early.”

Seungsoo hums, nodding his head in understanding, “Sure, whatever you say little bro.”

Kyungsoo mumbles something incoherent under his breath and looks down at the plush carpet, eyes caught on a small stain in the shape of a liquid, presumably coffee.

“I know you’re lying though, but we’ll talk about it later.”

Kyungsoo’s head shoots up, his eye wide in shock. By the time his eyes land on where his brother was, he was already gone. Bastard. He should have known his brother could read him like a book, as if he was just the daily fucking newspaper.

Later, pfft. Kyungsoo may love his brother with a full heart, but he was still his brother and that meant he didn’t need to know anything. His brother knowing about his current confusing situation would only complicate it further.

Kyungsoo closed the door with a heavy sigh, falling lightly onto his double bed and closing his eyes. He’ll make sense of it tomorrow, somehow.

_____

“Kyungsoo, I’m a mess!” was the first thing said boy was greeted with when he walked into the dusty classroom that Tuesday morning. He looked ahead to see Jongdae, one of his long term friends, flopped over his desk looking like his entire world was falling apart.

“What happened?” Kyungsoo asked, slowly putting his bag on the desk next to the over dramatic boy, shortly after sitting down behind it.

Jongdae lifted his head from the desk, chucking his hands up in the air and shoving a piece of paper in Kyungsoo’s direction. He had to lean his head back to see what was actually on the paper, and when he realized he grabbed it from Jongdae’s hand and took a closer look.

It was their mini-test from the previous week, the title “History of South Korea TEST” on it along with a big red 45%. Kyungsoo scoffed, Jongdae always gets terrible grades and then acts as if he’s shocked by it when he gets the test back.

“At least it’s better than the 30% you got in Advanced Mathematics last year,” Kyungsoo said as he handed the test back to the whining boy, “Honestly, how’d you even get into that class?”

Jongdae smirked, his thin lips curling up into his cheek, “Connections, my dear friend, so many top secret connections…”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, “You mean your dad? The principal? The only reason they haven’t kicked you out of this goddamned school yet?”

“Don’t burst my bubble, devil boy.”

Kyungsoo just scoffed and turned to the teacher, who had just calmly walked into the room. They caught each other’s eyes and she immediately walked over with him with a piece of paper.

“The test results from last week, seeing as you weren’t here last Friday,” she explained, putting the test on his table and smiling before walking back to the front.

Jongdae peered over his shoulder and let out an annoyed whine when he saw Kyungsoo’s result.

“98%! That’s crazy! You’re like some kind of crazy inhuman robot!”

“At least I can actually pass my tests.”

“Cold,” Jongdae whispered, “So very, very cold.”

The rest of the lesson passed as normal and before Kyungsoo noticed he was standing in front of his locker preparing to leave for home. He usually went to the library after school, but it took a while to pack his bag so he always ended up leaving the grounds late. This time he wasn’t though, he needed time to think.

He slammed his locker shut and pushed around the numbers on the code. When he was satisfied that the numbers were far from what his code actually was he slung his bag over his shoulder and turned around.

“Kyungsoo, right?” a slightly wobbly sounding voice says, making Kyungsoo jump just a little. He lifts his eyes to see a vaguely familiar boy staring at him.

“Uh, yeah,” Kyungsoo mumbled, trying to place what he recognized about the boy standing opposite of him.

“I’m here to… thank you,” he mumbled, pushing a strand of his hair out of his face. His hair was dyed a soft pink that looked incredibly faded as if he’d washed it twenty or so times.

“Thank me?” Kyungsoo questioned, tilting his head to the right, “For what?”

The pink haired boy gulped, his knees sliding together repetitively, “For yesterday, at my school.”

Thoughts scrambled around Kyungsoo’s head and for a moment he was just plain _confused._ Then, it clicked.

“Oh! At Hyundai!”

“Uhh, yeah. I just wanted to say thanks.”

Kyungsoo studied the boy’s stance a bit more. He was tense, shoulders held tight with all his limbs seemingly trying to shoot back into his body like a turtle. Kyungsoo smiled.

“It’s okay really, but does that happen often?” He asked tentatively, leaning his head forward in question.

“Uhh,” the boy let out a breath, “Not really, I mean. Sort of.”

Kyungsoo frowned, “What’s your name?”

The boy looked him in the eye, letting his nimble like hands twine together, “Minseok. Kim Minseok.”

“Okay, Minseok.” He smiled, “I’m at the local library almost every day after school, so if you ever want to talk to me, I’ll be there, okay?”

Minseok’s eyes widened, his arms dropping to his sides, “Than- Thank you!”

Kyungsoo let his eyes crinkle at the edges when he smiled.

“Anytime.”


	5. Chapter 5

When Kyungsoo wasn't at school, the library or Jongdae's house he was most likely working. He was only a casual employee, so he only got called in when someone was sick or couldn't show up, but he didn't mind. Money was money.

It was a slow day in the café, or slower than usual at least. It gave Kyungsoo time to lean his elbows against the mahogany counter and take a second to breathe. It felt good, relaxing somewhere other than home.

A jingle echoed across the mostly empty café, the sound bouncing off of the walls and meeting Kyungsoo's ears. He peered over the register and was shocked to see the head of red hair which was becoming increasingly familiar.

Kyungsoo's hands gripped tight on the edge of the counter as he met Chanyeol's brown eyes. He hadn't seen him since the incident with Minseok, so Kyungsoo wasn't sure what to do. The other boy walked closer to the counter and then halted his movements, staring him down. A shiver crept its way up Kyungsoo's spine, tingling at his neck. He didn't really wanna be in this situation.

"Uh, can I have a caramel latte, please?" Chanyeol asked, causing Kyungsoo to jump just a little. His voice sounded different, a lot more pleasant than it did the other day. Kyungsoo tapped his order into the machine.

"Small, Medium or Large?" Kyungsoo asked, looking everywhere but Chanyeol.

"Medium, please," The red haired boy responded, shoving his hand into the pocket of his hoodie to fish out his wallet.

The whole exchange made Kyungsoo's skin crawl. He knew why he was so put off by it, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't want it to be this awkward. After he handed Chanyeol his drink, the tall boy picked a seat near the middle of the café.

He looked sad like that and Kyungsoo wondered if he ever felt lonely. He's sure that Chanyeol is surrounded by people constantly, Sehun said so. He kind of looked it, lonely that is.

"What are you thinking about?" He almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden deep rumble of Chanyeol's voice. His eyes darted up to make sure he wasn't hearing things and, sure enough, Chanyeol was looking straight at him. Shit, what is he supposed to do?

"Uhh, I'm thinking about," He gulped, looking down at the way his knuckles turned white with how hard he was gripping the table. "I'm thinking about work".

"Work?" Chanyeol inquired, tilting his head to the side, "This work?"

Kyungsoo could feel his eyebrow twitch slightly at the stupidly of the younger boy. Of course it was this fucking work, dumbass.

"Yeah, I don't have time for any other job," He said instead, calmly turning around to grab a small white coffee cup out of the below cabinet.

"Why not?" He could hear Chanyeol sipping on his latte obnoxiously loud and it was seriously starting to tick him off. This fucking guy stalks him and beats some kid up only to come into to where he works and basically make fun of him? Fucking asshole.

"Why do you ask so many questions?" Kyungsoo inquires, still in the process of making himself a coffee. He was turned away from Chanyeol, so he felt a little bit more confident. Though, he could very well get fired if his boss decided to walk through the door.

"Damn, sorry, thought I'd make conversation," the deep voice comes, followed by a clink of a spoon against a cup. His coffee was getting empty.

"Well if you want to make conversation, you could tell me why you're here," Kyungsoo says, whipping around on the spot and facing the other boy again.

Chanyeol had his elbows leaned against the tiny table he was seated at, coffee abandoned in between his arms and eyes that felt like fire when he looked into them. Kyungsoo hated this.

"I'm here because I wanted coffee and I'm tired, why? Did you think I had some other reason for being here?" Chanyeol asked as he leaned over further.

Kyungsoo didn't know what to say, so he brought his own cup to his mouth and took a sip. Every little action sounded impossibly loud in the silence of the store.

Chanyeol took his elbows off the table and stood up, his chair groaning across the floor.

"Thank you for the coffee, I'll be going now."

Kyungsoo followed his retreating form with his eyes, his every step resounding in his ears. When the door clanged shut behind him, Kyungsoo let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

He decided that talking to Chanyeol felt like being underwater too long.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thought I'd do a little update. Chapters for this fic will continue to be short lol but I'll update more often hopefully ~~~ working on a couple other things but I'm back in the writing mood so expect a bunch of shit


	6. Chapter 6

Up. Down. Grunt. Up. Down.

Seungsoo was really into exercise, Kyungsoo soon found out. Not that his brother wasn't fit before he went away, but it seemed that he was trying to turn into a bodybuilder now. Honestly, it was impressive.

Kyungsoo held down the button at the bottom of the mixer, an annoyingly loud swirling noise filled the air, making him wince. When it was done mixing, Kyungsoo took it off its stand and began to pour the mixture into a tall glass. He filled it up to a couple centimetres below the brim and picked it up, making his way over to his brother.

"Here," Kyungsoo said, shoving one hand into his pocket while he waited for the glass to be taken.

"Thanks," Seungsoo said, taking it with a nod and wiping some of the sweat off of his face with the bright pink (?) towel that laid next to him. They sat in silence for a moment as Seungsoo downed the whole drink, sighing in satisfaction as he gave the glass back.

"That was good, what was in it?" He asked, wiping the corner of his mouth as he positioned himself in a sit-up. Kyungsoo scoffed.

"Vegetables," He answered, a slight smirk creeping its way onto his face, "A lot of vegetables."

Seungsoo cringed a bit but laughed anyway, going down to complete what was probably his seven hundredth push-up of the day.

"How can you exercise all day?" Kyungsoo asked, turning on the kitchen tap and watching the water rush down to fill up the dirty glass he was holding under it. He swished the water around for a bit before getting a sponge to clean it properly.

"The army is a harsh place, little brother," he could hear Seungsoo say in between a push up, "Extensive exercise kind of became a habit."

Kyungsoo hummed under his breath as a sign that he'd heard what the other man said as he put the glass cup back away into the cabinet.

"Seungsoo?" Kyungsoo asked, hesitantly fiddling with the kitchen cloth in front of him. His brother muttered a breathy 'yeah?' under his breath.

"What did you mean the other day? When you said you knew I was lying?" His voice wavered slightly at the end, feeling weirdly nervous. It was weird having Seungsoo in the house again and even weirder that Seungsoo could still figure him out so easy.

Seungsoo laughed, "I meant that it clearly looked like you were bothered by something. You wanna talk about it now?"

Kyungsoo tilted his head in thought. He didn't really wanted to talk specifics, and he definitely didn't want to tell Seungsoo about Chanyeol. Maybe he could simplify it.

"Not really but, it's complicated," Kyungsoo mumbled, "I'm in a really weird situation right now."

Seungsoo sat up, leaning his elbows on his knees and listening to his brother.

"Weird how?"

"Weird as in it feels off. It's like everything is happening but I'm missing a massive part of the plot, it's hard to explain."

Seungsoo hummed in thought, rubbing his chin with his left hand and then laughing, "Baekbeom was the one who was good at the advice thing, not me, but I can try."

Kyungsoo felt his eyebrows raise in surprise, "Baekbeom? I haven't heard that name in ages, woah."

"Hey, don't go changing the subject, little brother, we're talking about your problems and nothing else."

Kyungsoo scoffed, "Yeah, okay bossy pants."

Seungsoo gasped in mock shock, "Rude. Now, tell me, what is this mystery situation of yours?"

Kyungsoo stuck his tongue out, "None of your business, I told you what I wanted."

"Okay then. Let's talk about something else then," Seungsoo hummed, "Why haven't you heard of Baekbeom in ages?"

It felt weird having to fill his older brother in on what had happened in the time he was away, because it felt like he should just know, somehow.

"Well, I haven't talked to Baekhyun since he transferred so, in extension, I also haven't talked to his brother."

Seungsoo looked surprised when he spoke, "Baekhyun transferred? Why?"

Kyungsoo shrugged, "Not sure, I don't know much about it."

That was a lie. Kyungsoo knew everything about it, but it was another thing he didn't really want Seungsoo knowing about.

"That's weird. Didn't he tell you? Weren't you guys best friends or something?"

Kyungsoo stayed silent for a moment, reminiscing over the past. It had been good back then. Sure, it'd been awkward and full of stupid decisions but it was fucking good.

"Yeah. We were."

They both stayed silent after that, somehow both understanding that the conversation was over.

———

"Jongdae!" Kyungsoo practically yelled into his headset, hitting the buttons on his controller one after another ridiculously fast. The first person shooter gun on the screen fired round after round.

"I'm sorry, alright! This asshole keeps trying to kill me!" The grainy voice of Jongedae says directly into his ear, progressively making Kyungsoo more and more irritated. A loud shot resounded off the screen and a big, red 'GAME OVER' flashed across his screen.

Kyungsoo grunted in irritation, throwing his controller at his pillow. He could basically hear Jongdae screaming on the other end of the line.

"This fucking sucks. We suck at this," Jongdae says and Kyungsoo rolled around on his bed in rejection.

"We don't suck, everyone else is just too good," Kyungsoo replied, trying to redeem a bit of his gaming pride.

"No, we suck. You know why? Because our gaming circle has been broken for so long that we're way out of practice."

Kyungsoo stared up at the ceiling, feeling a small pang in his heart. Their old gaming circle, that would probably been the highlight of his childhood if he had to choose one thing.

"We can't really help that, Jongdae. It seems everyone moves on without us."

"You mean- yeah, you're right."

Kyungsoo clicks 'New Game' and they both stop talking. He didn't need to think about that today, and he thinks Jongdae knows that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oohhh foreshadowing (or pastshadowing?)  
> also it's 4am and I'm writing chapters for this and (when we were younger) and I'm so tired hahshdh  
> please leave a comment and tell me what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

It had started again. After the Minseok incident, Chanyeol had stopped following him around, but it seems that him coming into the café sparked it back up again. Except, this time he wasn't really trying to hide.

It was small stuff, like Chanyeol being next to him in the line at McDonalds or him sitting at the next table over at the library. This time, instead of them avoiding each other's gaze it seems they spent the entire time trying to get their eyes to meet.

It felt like a bonfire was set inside of his stomach and he couldn't put it out. The acid sat in the lining of his intestines just made the fire spread even further. Kyungsoo didn't know what to do.

He should probably tell Jongdae, but it felt like the type of thing you don't let anyone know else about. As if the weird bond between them was a secret.

The third time Kyungsoo talks to Chanyeol is when he's walking home from the library. The tall boy follows him for a minute or two before Kyungsoo stops in his steps. The other boy clearly hadn't noticed that Kyungsoo had stopped and crashed straight into him.

"Ahh!" Chanyeol exclaimed, his phone dropping from his hands and onto the concrete footpath, his front pressing against Kyungsoo's back harshly. Kyungsoo stumbled forward and whipped his head around, alarmed.

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo asked, looking down at the red haired boy who had dropped to the ground to pick his phone back up. Kyungsoo watched as he flipped it around in his hands a couple times, assessing it for damage. A small webbed cracked had formed on the top left hand corner.

“I’m okay,” the red haired boy mumbled, “But my phone isn’t."

Kyungsoo gulped, watching as Chanyeol got back to his feet and stuffed the phone into his back pocket. They stood there in silence, in the middle of the sidewalk with the dusk air slipping in and out of their mouths. At that moment, Kyungsoo missed when Chanyeol would just watch from a distance.

“Uh, I’m sorry about your phone,” He blurted out, trying to fill the empty space surrounding them. Chanyeol looked back up from where his eyes were trained to Kyungsoo’s clothes.

He waved his hand dismissively, “It’s okay, it’s not your fault. My uncle fixes phones anyway so I can get it done for cheap.”

“Oh,” Kyungsoo replied simply, shoving his hands into his pockets to find something to do, “That’s good then.”

He sounded so goddamn stupid and he didn’t even know why he cared so much. It was Chanyeol, stalker boy with homophobic and cruel tendencies, so why should he care what he thought of him? It hurt his head to think about.

  
“Yeah, uh,” Chanyeol mumbled, looking a bit annoyed, “I’ll see you around.”

Kyungsoo nodded a bit dumbly and watched as Chanyeol continued his trek down the pathway, not looking back at him once. Kyungsoo continued to stand there, fiddling with the lint in his pockets. The scenery was covered in an orange sunset glow, making the whole situation a lot more melodramatic.

He let out a huff and started walking again.

——

Kyungsoo was in his room when his house went into sudden uproar. It was confusing at first, and he sat at his desk for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on just by the voices. He couldn’t figure out what they were saying exactly, but it was goddamned loud and Kyungsoo was trying to study.

He slid back in his wheelie chair and got up, walking out his room and down the hall. The voices of his family grew louder and the topic of conversation suddenly became a hell of a lot more apparent.

Down the stairs and around the corner was his father. His footsteps became faster as he rushed down and the familiar sight of the older man filled his vision.

"Dad?" Kyungsoo asked, watching as his father embraced both his mother and brother. The bearded man turned his attention to his younger son.

"Kyungsoo, son!" He said, walking up to the teenager with open arms, "It's been awhile!"

Kyungsoo nodded slightly, leaning into the hug that was all of a sudden wrapped around his torso. It had definitely been awhile, seeing as after Mr. Do's business picked up, so did the demand and business trips were a common occurrence.

To be a bit more precise, it had been three months, but for Seungsoo, it'd been two whole years, and you could tell. They talked about how much the business had shot up since Seungsoo left it for the army, which wasn't surprising. It calmed Kyungsoo, knowing that even when time had passed his family could still remain in tact and happy.

Though, as friendly as the atmosphere was, it didn't help Kyungsoo's mind stray from a certain red haired boy he bumped into earlier in the day. It kept whirling around in his head on a loop as he talked with his father, trying his best to focus of the conversation as a pair of amber eyes flickered behind his brain like a broken record.

"Hey, Kyungsoo, are you listening?"

Said boy jumped in his seat, looking at the culprit of the voice, Seungsoo.

"Uh yeah I'm listening. Guns and all that," he mumbled, trying to recall the last things he registered them saying.

"Nope, we were actually talking about school." Seungsoo smirked, flicking a grain of rice out of his bowl and aiming it at Kyungsoo's forehead.

He grumbled, "Okay I wasn't listening, sue me."

Seungsoo scoffed, "Our dear youngest here has been a bit of a day dreamer lately. Wonder what he has on his mind."

Both of Kyungsoo's parents eyebrows raised at this, looking straight at him in curiosity.

"What? I'm thinking about the projects I have due."

Something about lying straight through his teeth hurt, he thought as he picked at the dirt under his nails.

"Are you sure?" Seungsoo teased, leaning back on his chair and rocking forward. Kyungsoo glared at him.

"What do you have on your mind, honey?" Kyungsoo's mother asked, her sweet voice traveling through his ears.

"It's really nothing. Just school."

Mr. Do was looking at his son, but said nothing (which Kyungsoo was incredibly relieved for). His mother frowned.

"Okay," she paused, "But make sure to tell me if anything is wrong."

Kyungsoo nodded and the dinner progressed with a different topic. It felt like lately the whole goddamned world thought something was up with him. In their defence, they're not wrong, but it's fucking annoying.

He let out a sigh and plopped another spoonful into his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey alllll chapter 7 is up and u just read it! ;) hope you've been enjoying my story so far and I hope you continue to enjoy it in the future!  
> Leave some kudos and a comment to show me what you thought!


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